La. Politics: Governor nearing $1 million in cash for calendar year

By Jeremy Alford, Mitch Rabalais and Sarah Gamard Lapolitics.com

Monday

Mar 26, 2018 at 11:11 AMMar 26, 2018 at 11:11 AM

Before the fundraising ban of the regular session took hold on March 12, Gov. John Bel Edwards managed to raise nearly $1 million during the first 10 weeks of this calendar year, according to a spokesperson for his re-election campaign.

February was actually the best month on record for the campaign in terms of online donations, the spokesperson added The money-counters argue that repeated attacks by political enemies had the effect of energizing Democratic donors, who balanced the criticisms against strong polling numbers for the governor.

So how much is Edwards going to eventually raise? In a recent episode of The LaPolitics Report podcast, Andrew Bautsch, the executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, said, "If you look at it, John Bel is on point to have, I’m thinking, maybe $10 million of his own funds by election day. And then you’ll have the DNC and other interest groups coming in to drop another $3 to $4 million minimum. That’s why we’re gearing up."

State GOP Chairman Louis Gurvich, who is also featured in the episode, added that the previous spending record set during the 2015 gubernatorial race by Edwards and the rest of the field — totaling at least $50 million — won’t survive the next two years.

"Absolutely, it’s going to be shattered," said Gurvich. "No doubt about it."

Earlier this year Edwards reported having $5 million in his war chest for re-election, raised during 2016 and 2017. The governor has a handful of potential opponents, but so far none have officially announced.

GOP leadership transition underway

Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Louis Gurvich, recently elected, and Executive Director Andrew Bautsch, recently hired, have been on the job for roughly a month.

They revealed new plans to LaPolitics recently for recruiting minority and female candidates, as well as candidates who are younger than traditionally seen in the GOP. The party also wants to surpass 1 million members in the state by 2020.

"It’s not a matter of what your great-grandparents were doing," Gurvich said. "It’s a matter of what’s going on with us now."

The state may also see more conservative candidates looking to replace incumbent and term-limited Republicans in the 2019 elections, they noted.

"Generally speaking, we want folks who are going to be part of our message for smaller government, lower taxes and more individual freedom to live your life as you choose," Gurvich said.

Middle lane caucus could be nonprofit

LaPolitics reported recently that a potential new legislative caucus of centrist representatives was in the works. Now members are thinking the group might not be a caucus at all but a political nonprofit.

Five or six members have been meeting in private to discuss the paths that the coalition could take. Earlier interviews identified about 30 members who have been meeting as a body since August as well as corresponding via group text during the most recent special session.

But a handful of participants aren’t ready to be identified.

"There’s a little bit of an uncertainty," said Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, adding that the group does not want to be "branded on the political spectrum."

Names are still up in the air, but Stokes is considering calling it the Louisiana Coalition.

The coalition includes about a dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats, she said, plus the Legislature’s three independents. In addition to Stokes, members also include Reps. Gene Reynolds, D-Minden, and Rob Shadoin, R-Ruston.

Political History: Boggs vs. Hoover

In the spring of 1971, Congressman Hale Boggs of New Orleans, then the House majority leader, was making moves on Capitol Hill. A well respected member of Congress, Boggs had served in the Democratic leadership since 1962. Notably, he had helped guide President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs through the House and even served on the Warren Commission.

But on April 5 of that year, Boggs rose and gave a floor speech denouncing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its powerful director, J. Edgar Hoover. Comparing the FBI’s methods to "the tactics of the Soviet Union and Hitler's Gestapo," Boggs called upon Attorney General John Mitchell to demand Hoover’s resignation. In his remarks, Boggs specifically charged that the FBI had wiretapped congressional offices and stationed agents on college campuses to spy on students.

Political observers were shocked that the majority leader had chosen to publicly attack Hoover, long considered to be the most powerful man in Washington. In a phone call with President Richard Nixon, House Minority Leader Gerald Ford’s only explanation was that perhaps Boggs was "either drinking too much, or he's taking some pills that are upsetting him mentally."

Ford rose to defend Hoover on the floor, while the attorney general said that Boggs should apologize. Nixon, subsequently, had Boggs removed from high-level meetings and restricted his access to classified information.

Back in Louisiana, then-Gov. John McKeithen personally called Hoover and assured him that the state government did not share the views of the majority leader. Meanwhile, Congressman John Rarick of St. Francisville told reporters that he thought Boggs’ remarks were part of an organized, left-wing conspiracy against the FBI.

Boggs, for his part, doubled down on his charges against Hoover in press interviews and statements. Days after his floor speech, Boggs told CBS, "The country cannot survive under a man who in his declining years has violated the Bill of Rights of the United States."

While Boggs never backed away from the charges, the controversy eventually ended when he mysteriously disappeared in October 1972 while campaigning for a Democratic candidate in Alaska.

Documents declassified since Hoover’s death have since proven that Boggs’ accusations against the FBI were, in fact, true.

They Said It

"We can't even pass gas."

— State Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, commenting on the Louisiana House of Representatives.

"For a flat state, we have a lot of cliffs."

— Gambit’s Clancy DuBos, while lecturing at LSU last week.

For more Louisiana political news, visit LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.

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